Interruption and delay for V2X sidelink carrier aggregation

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods provide solutions for delay and interruption requirements for vehicle-to-everything (V2X) sidelink carrier aggregation (CA). For example, when any number of component carriers is added for V2X CA, a user equipment (UE) capable of V2X sidelink communication is allowed an interruption of up to two subframes to the cellular network. The interruption may be for both uplink and downlink of a serving cell or primary cell.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/407,006filed May 8, 2019, granted on Aug. 31, 2021 as U.S. Pat. No. 11,109,355,which is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 16/376,990 filedApr. 5, 2019, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/654,194 filed Apr. 6, 2018, which arehereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to wireless communication systems,and more specifically to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) sidelink carrieraggregation (CA).

BACKGROUND

Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards andprotocols to transmit data between a base station and a wireless mobiledevice. Wireless communication system standards and protocols caninclude the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long termevolution (LTE); the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers(IEEE) 802.16 standard, which is commonly known to industry groups asworldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX); and the IEEE802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLAN), which iscommonly known to industry groups as Wi-Fi. In 3GPP radio accessnetworks (RANs) in LTE systems, the base station can include a RAN Nodesuch as a Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN)Node B (also commonly denoted as evolved Node B, enhanced Node B,eNodeB, or eNB) and/or Radio Network Controller (RNC) in an E-UTRAN,which communicate with a wireless communication device, known as userequipment (UE). In fifth generation (5G) wireless RANs, RAN Nodes caninclude a 5G Node, new radio (NR) node or g Node B (gNB).

RANs use a radio access technology (RAT) to communicate between the RANNode and UE. RANs can include global system for mobile communications(GSM), enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN),Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and/or E-UTRAN,which provide access to communication services through a core network.Each of the RANs operates according to a specific 3GPP RAT. For example,the GERAN implements GSM and/or EDGE RAT, the UTRAN implements universalmobile telecommunication system (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, and theE-UTRAN implements LTE RAT.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or act, themost significant digit or digits in a reference number refer to thefigure number in which that element is first introduced.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram showing subframes and interruption times inaccordance with certain embodiments.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method for a UE in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 3 illustrates a method for UE in accordance with anotherembodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a system in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 5 illustrates a system in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 6 illustrates a device in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 8 illustrates a control plane in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 9 illustrates a user plane in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 10 illustrates components in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 11 illustrates a system in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 12 illustrates components in accordance with one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The delay and interruption requirements for vehicle-to-everything (V2X)sidelink carrier aggregation (CA) are not specified in current 3GPPstandards. Embodiments herein introduce various delay and interruptionrequirements for V2X sidelink CA.

A. Interruption to Sidelink Communications

In one embodiment, when a component carrier for V2X CA is added orreleased, an interruption to sidelink communications is up to onesubframe (two subframes if it is based on a Uu interface timeline).

For V2X CA, the aggregated carriers are intra-band. One common design isthat the UE uses a single radio frequency (RF) transmit (Tx)/receive(Rx) chain for transmission/reception of V2X sidelink signals on theaggregated carriers. When a sidelink component carrier is added orreleased, a UE may need to perform RF tuning (adjustment of centerfrequency and aggregated bandwidth). In certain implementations, in caseof shared Tx/Rx chains architecture for carriers, the Rx chain operationmay be interrupted for up to 200 microseconds (μs).

Additionally, up to one cyclic prefix (CP) length of synchronizationerror between two components carriers should also been included. Thus,according to certain embodiments herein, an interruption up to 1millisecond (ms) is allowed for component carrier addition or release inPC5 CA, which leaves enough implementation margin. Persons skilled inthe art will recognize from the disclosure herein that a PC5 interfacemay also be referred to as a device-to-device interface, a V2X PC5interface, or a sidelink interface. Whereas two UEs may communicatethrough an LTE-Uu interface (also referred to as an LTE radio interfaceor simply a Uu interface) wherein data traverses an eNB, datacommunication between UEs through the PC5 interface does not need to gothrough the eNB.

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram showing subframes 100 and interruption timeline 102 in accordance with certain embodiments. As persons skilled inthe art recognize, each of the subframes 100 n, n+1, n+2, n+3, n+4, . .. , n+19, n+20, n+21, etc. may be part of one a respective a radioframe. In certain embodiments, one frame may be divided into tensubframes of 1 ms each. Assuming that a UE receives a component carrieraddition or release command through dedicated radio resource control(RRC) signaling at subframe n, then by no later than subframe n+19, theUE may decode the component carrier addition/release command. Theinterruptions on PC5 CA might follow either Uu or PC5 subframeboundaries depending on which timeline is prioritized by the UE. Ittakes up to one subframe for the interruption if the UE follows PC5subframe boundaries (shown as a first interruption time 104 on the timeline 102 of FIG. 1 ). However, it takes up to two subframes for theinterruption (shown as a second interruption time 106) if the UE followsUu subframe boundaries given the fact that the transmission on PC5 andUu interfaces can be asynchronous.

B. Interruption to Cellular Communications

In certain embodiments, when a component carrier for V2X CA is added orreleased, an interruption to cellular communications is up to twosubframes.

Transmission on the Uu interface and transmission on the PC5 interfaceuse different bands. Thus, the component carriers on the Uu interfaceand the PC5 interface are inter-band and can be either synchronous orasynchronous.

The existence of interruption to Uu link communication caused bycomponent carrier addition/release on the PC5 link depends on UEimplementation. For example, if cellular and sidelink communicationshare the same crystal oscillator or PLL for different RF chains, it iscommon to have interruption between PC5 link and Uu link. If a separatedesign is adopted, i.e., the receivers/transmitters for cellular andsidelink communication are completely independent, there may be nointerruption needed. Thus, in certain embodiments, up to one subframeinterruption is needed for sidelink CA. Due to the fact that PC5 and Uutransmission could be asynchronous, the one subframe interruption causedby sidelink CA may be across two subframes of the cellularcommunication. Thus, an interruption of 2 ms (e.g., corresponding to twosubframes) is provided for cellar communication considering asynchronousreference timing between Uu and PC5 interfaces.

Thus, in certain embodiments, for interruptions on a serving cell orprimary cell (PCell) due to V2X component carrier addition or release,when any number of component carriers is added or released for V2Xcarrier aggregation (e.g., using an RRC connection reconfigurationmessage), a UE capable of V2X sidelink communication is allowed aninterruption of up to two subframes to the wide area network (WAN)(e.g., the cellular network). In certain embodiments, this interruptionis for both uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) of the serving cell and/or thePCell.

C. Delay Time for Component Carrier Addition or Release

In certain embodiments, the delay on component carrier addition orrelease for V2X sidelink CA in transmission mode 3 (e.g., connectedmode) can be defined as the time period from the end of DL subframe withRRC configuration message until the moment when UE is ready for toperform V2X RX or TX transmission.

In certain such embodiments, the delay time for single component carrieraddition/release is up to 21 ms, and the delay time for multiplecomponent carrier addition/release is up to 20+N ms, where N is thenumber of component carrier added/released.

For V2X CA, component carrier (CC) addition/release is based ondedicated RRC signaling for connected mode UEs. The respective delayrequirement can be defined as the delay from the end of DL subframe withRRC configuration message until the moment when UE is ready for toperform V2X RX or TX. The addition/release delay time can be expressedas: Delay time=RRC processing time+time for RF tuning/re-tuning.

As defined in 3GPP TS 36.331, the RRCConnectionReconfiguration messagemay include dedicated configuration information for V2X sidelinkcommunication, and the processing time for RRC connectionreconfiguration is 20 ms. Here the 20 ms is calculated from the end ofreception of the E-UTRAN to UE message on the UE physical layer up towhen the UE is ready for the reception of uplink grant for the UE toE-UTRAN response message with no access delay other than thetransmission time interval (TTI) alignment (e.g., excluding delayscaused by scheduling, the random access procedure or physical layersynchronization).

It is noted that the RRC processing time on component carrier additionand release for V2X CA may be up to 20 ms. Further, RF switching timemay be 200 microseconds (μs) for intra-band V2X CA. In addition, sometime margin may be added for UE implementation. Thus, certainembodiments herein use 1 ms for RF tuning on the CC addition/release inPC5 CA.

It is also noted that The RF tuning/retuning time on component carrieraddition and release for V2X CA may be up to 1 ms. In addition, the RRCreconfiguration completion may not mean the action of CCaddition/release is accomplished. It is not clear if the UE will reportto the eNB on the completion of CC addition/release on UE RX. If suchreport does not exist for sidelink CA, the action of CC addition/releaseon V2X CA maybe not testable.

In certain embodiments, for a UE configured in sidelink transmissionmode 3, upon receiving a V2X carrier addition or release command throughan RRC Connection Reconfiguration message that includes dedicatedconfiguration information for V2X sidelink communication (e.g.,RRCConnectionReconfiguration message with sl-V2X-ConfigDedicatedparameter) in WAN subframe n, the UE accomplishes the V2X componentcarrier addition/release no later than the end of WAN subframe n+21+N,where N is the number of component carriers added and/or released.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 for a UE in accordance with oneembodiment. In block 202, method 200 decodes a radio resource control(RRC) signal comprising a component carrier addition or release commandfor vehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier aggregation (CA) in a wirelesswide area network (WAN). In block 204, method 200 determines that the UEis configured for V2X sidelink communication. In block 206, method 200in response to the component carrier addition or release command and thedetermination that the UE is configured for V2X sidelink communication,interrupts communications with the WAN for up to two subframes for radiofrequency (RF) chain configuration. In certain embodiments, interruptingcommunications with the WAN comprises suspending data communication forboth uplink and downlink on a serving cell or primary cell (PCell) of acellular communications network. In addition or in other embodiments,interrupting communications with the WAN for up to two subframescomprises interrupting communications with the WAN for up to 2milliseconds.

D. Example Embodiments

FIG. 3 illustrates a method 300 for a UE in accordance with oneembodiment. In block 302, method 300 determines that the UE isconfigured in a connected mode wherein a wireless wide area network(WAN) allocates time and frequency transmission resources to the UE. Inblock 304, method 300 processes a radio resource control (RRC)connection reconfiguration message corresponding to avehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier addition or release command, the RRCconnection reconfiguration message comprising dedicated configurationinformation for V2X sidelink communication in a subframe n from the WAN.In block 306, method 300 in response to the V2X carrier addition orrelease command, adds or releases one or more V2X component carriers nolater than an end of WAN subframe n+21+N, where N is a number of the oneor more V2X component carriers added or released. In certainembodiments, the connected mode comprises a sidelink transmission mode3.

FIG. 4 illustrates an architecture of a system 400 of a network inaccordance with some embodiments. The system 400 includes one or moreuser equipment (UE), shown in this example as a UE 402 and a UE 404. TheUE 402 and the UE 404 are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheldtouchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellularnetworks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computingdevice, such as Personal Data Assistants (PDAs), pagers, laptopcomputers, desktop computers, wireless handsets, or any computing deviceincluding a wireless communications interface.

In some embodiments, any of the UE 402 and the UE 404 can comprise anInternet of Things (IoT) UE, which can comprise a network access layerdesigned for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UEconnections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such asmachine-to-machine (M2M) or machine-type communications (MTC) forexchanging data with an MTC server or device via a public land mobilenetwork (PLMN), Proximity-Based Service (ProSe) or device-to-device(D2D) communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTCexchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoTnetwork describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquelyidentifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internetinfrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may executebackground applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates,etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network.

The UE 402 and the UE 404 may be configured to connect, e.g.,communicatively couple, with a radio access network (RAN), shown as RAN406. The RAN 406 may be, for example, an Evolved Universal MobileTelecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network(E-UTRAN), a NextGen RAN (NG RAN), or some other type of RAN. The UE 402and the UE 404 utilize connection 408 and connection 410, respectively,each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer(discussed in further detail below); in this example, the connection 408and the connection 410 are illustrated as an air interface to enablecommunicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellularcommunications protocols, such as a Global System for MobileCommunications (GSM) protocol, a code-division multiple access (CDMA)network protocol, a Push-to-Talk (PTT) protocol, a PTT over Cellular(POC) protocol, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)protocol, a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) protocol, a fifth generation(5G) protocol, a New Radio (NR) protocol, and the like.

In this embodiment, the UE 402 and the UE 404 may further directlyexchange communication data via a ProSe interface 412. The ProSeinterface 412 may alternatively be referred to as a sidelink interfacecomprising one or more logical channels, including but not limited to aPhysical Sidelink Control Channel (PSCCH), a Physical Sidelink SharedChannel (PSSCH), a Physical Sidelink Discovery Channel (PSDCH), and aPhysical Sidelink Broadcast Channel (PSBCH).

The UE 404 is shown to be configured to access an access point (AP),shown as AP 414, via connection 416. The connection 416 can comprise alocal wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 414 would comprise a wireless fidelity(WiFi®) router. In this example, the AP 414 may be connected to theInternet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system(described in further detail below).

The RAN 406 can include one or more access nodes that enable theconnection 408 and the connection 410. These access nodes (ANs) can bereferred to as base stations (BSs), NodeBs, evolved NodeBs (eNBs), nextGeneration NodeBs (gNB), RAN nodes, and so forth, and can compriseground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stationsproviding coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). The RAN 406may include one or more RAN nodes for providing macrocells, e.g., macroRAN node 418, and one or more RAN nodes for providing femtocells orpicocells (e.g., cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller usercapacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells), e.g., a low power(LP) RAN node such as LP RAN node 420.

Any of the macro RAN node 418 and the LP RAN node 420 can terminate theair interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UE402 and the UE 404. In some embodiments, any of the macro RAN node 418and the LP RAN node 420 can fulfill various logical functions for theRAN 406 including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC)functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamicradio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobilitymanagement.

In accordance with some embodiments, the UE 402 and the UE 404 can beconfigured to communicate using Orthogonal Frequency-DivisionMultiplexing (OFDM) communication signals with each other or with any ofthe macro RAN node 418 and the LP RAN node 420 over a multicarriercommunication channel in accordance various communication techniques,such as, but not limited to, an Orthogonal Frequency-Division MultipleAccess (OFDMA) communication technique (e.g., for downlinkcommunications) or a Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access(SC-FDMA) communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe orsidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is notlimited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality oforthogonal subcarriers.

In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlinktransmissions from any of the macro RAN node 418 and the LP RAN node 420to the UE 402 and the UE 404, while uplink transmissions can utilizesimilar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called aresource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physicalresource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency planerepresentation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes itintuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of theresource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier,respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domaincorresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequencyunit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resourcegrid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mappingof certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource blockcomprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain,this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently canbe allocated. There are several different physical downlink channelsthat are conveyed using such resource blocks.

The physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) may carry user data andhigher-layer signaling to the UE 402 and the UE 404. The physicaldownlink control channel (PDCCH) may carry information about thetransport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel,among other things. It may also inform the UE 402 and the UE 404 aboutthe transport format, resource allocation, and H-ARQ (Hybrid AutomaticRepeat Request) information related to the uplink shared channel.Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channelresource blocks to the UE 404 within a cell) may be performed at any ofthe macro RAN node 418 and the LP RAN node 420 based on channel qualityinformation fed back from any of the UE 402 and UE 404. The downlinkresource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g.,assigned to) each of the UE 402 and the UE 404.

The PDCCH may use control channel elements (CCEs) to convey the controlinformation. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCHcomplex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, whichmay then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching.Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, whereeach CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as resource element groups (REGs). Four Quadrature Phase ShiftKeying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can betransmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of thedownlink control information (DCI) and the channel condition. There canbe four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with differentnumbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8).

Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for controlchannel information that are an extension of the above-describedconcepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an enhanced physicaldownlink control channel (EPDCCH) that uses PDSCH resources for controlinformation transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one ormore enhanced the control channel elements (ECCEs). Similar to above,each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elementsknown as enhanced resource element groups (EREGs). An ECCE may haveother numbers of EREGs in some situations.

The RAN 406 is communicatively coupled to a core network (CN), shown asCN 428—via an S1 interface 422. In embodiments, the CN 428 may be anevolved packet core (EPC) network, a NextGen Packet Core (NPC) network,or some other type of CN. In this embodiment the S1 interface 422 issplit into two parts: the S1-U interface 424, which carries traffic databetween the macro RAN node 418 and the LP RAN node 420 and a servinggateway (S-GW), shown as S-GW 432, and an S1-mobility management entity(MME) interface, shown as S1-MME interface 426, which is a signalinginterface between the macro RAN node 418 and LP RAN node 420 and theMME(s) 430.

In this embodiment, the CN 428 comprises the MME(s) 430, the S-GW 432, aPacket Data Network (PDN) Gateway (P-GW) (shown as P-GW 434), and a homesubscriber server (HSS) (shown as HSS 436). The MME(s) 430 may besimilar in function to the control plane of legacy Serving GeneralPacket Radio Service (GPRS) Support Nodes (SGSN). The MME(s) 430 maymanage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and trackingarea list management. The HSS 436 may comprise a database for networkusers, including subscription-related information to support the networkentities' handling of communication sessions. The CN 428 may compriseone or several HSS 436, depending on the number of mobile subscribers,on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network,etc. For example, the HSS 436 can provide support for routing/roaming,authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, locationdependencies, etc.

The S-GW 432 may terminate the S1 interface 322 towards the RAN 406, androutes data packets between the RAN 406 and the CN 428. In addition, theS-GW 432 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN nodehandovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Otherresponsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policyenforcement.

The P-GW 434 may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN. The P-GW 434may route data packets between the CN 428 (e.g., an EPC network) andexternal networks such as a network including the application server 442(alternatively referred to as application function (AF)) via an InternetProtocol (IP) interface (shown as IP communications interface 438).Generally, an application server 442 may be an element offeringapplications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g.,UMTS Packet Services (PS) domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). In thisembodiment, the P-GW 434 is shown to be communicatively coupled to anapplication server 442 via an IP communications interface 438. Theapplication server 442 can also be configured to support one or morecommunication services (e.g., Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP)sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networkingservices, etc.) for the UE 402 and the UE 404 via the CN 428.

The P-GW 434 may further be a node for policy enforcement and chargingdata collection. A Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCRF)(shown as PCRF 440) is the policy and charging control element of the CN428. In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF in the HomePublic Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE's InternetProtocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roamingscenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFsassociated with a UE's IP-CAN session: a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within aHPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land MobileNetwork (VPLMN). The PCRF 440 may be communicatively coupled to theapplication server 442 via the P-GW 434. The application server 442 maysignal the PCRF 440 to indicate a new service flow and select theappropriate Quality of Service (QoS) and charging parameters. The PCRF440 may provision this rule into a Policy and Charging EnforcementFunction (PCEF) (not shown) with the appropriate traffic flow template(TFT) and QoS class of identifier (QCI), which commences the QoS andcharging as specified by the application server 442.

FIG. 5 illustrates an architecture of a system 500 of a network inaccordance with some embodiments. The system 500 is shown to include aUE 502, which may be the same or similar to the UE 402 and the UE 404discussed previously; a 5G access node or RAN node (shown as (R)AN node508), which may be the same or similar to the macro RAN node 418 and/orthe LP RAN node 420 discussed previously; a User Plane Function (shownas UPF 504); a Data Network (DN 506), which may be, for example,operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5G CoreNetwork (5GC) (shown as CN 510).

The CN 510 may include an Authentication Server Function (AUSF 514); aCore Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF 512); a SessionManagement Function (SMF 518); a Network Exposure Function (NEF 516); aPolicy Control Function (PCF 522); a Network Function (NF) RepositoryFunction (NRF 520); a Unified Data Management (UDM 524); and anApplication Function (AF 526). The CN 510 may also include otherelements that are not shown, such as a Structured Data Storage networkfunction (SDSF), an Unstructured Data Storage network function (UDSF),and the like.

The UPF 504 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RATmobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN 506, and abranching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 504 may alsoperform packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, enforce userplane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection);traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for user plane (e.g.packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform UplinkTraffic verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport levelpacket marking in the uplink and downlink, and downlink packet bufferingand downlink data notification triggering. UPF 504 may include an uplinkclassifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN506 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, orthird party services. DN 506 may include, or be similar to theapplication server 442 discussed previously.

The AUSF 514 may store data for authentication of UE 502 and handleauthentication related functionality. The AUSF 514 may facilitate acommon authentication framework for various access types.

The AMF 512 may be responsible for registration management (e.g., forregistering UE 502, etc.), connection management, reachabilitymanagement, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-relatedevents, and access authentication and authorization. AMF 512 may providetransport for SM messages for the SMF 518, and act as a transparentproxy for routing SM messages. AMF 512 may also provide transport forshort message service (SMS) messages between UE 502 and an SMS function(SMSF) (not shown by FIG. 5 ). AMF 512 may act as Security AnchorFunction (SEA), which may include interaction with the AUSF 514 and theUE 502, receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a resultof the UE 502 authentication process. Where USIM based authentication isused, the AMF 512 may retrieve the security material from the AUSF 514.AMF 512 may also include a Security Context Management (SCM) function,which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-networkspecific keys. Furthermore, AMF 512 may be a termination point of RAN CPinterface (N2 reference point), a termination point of NAS (NI)signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.

AMF 512 may also support NAS signaling with a UE 502 over an N3interworking-function (IWF) interface. The N3IWF may be used to provideaccess to untrusted entities. N3IWF may be a termination point for theN2 and N3 interfaces for control plane and user plane, respectively, andas such, may handle N2 signaling from SMF and AMF for PDU sessions andQoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, markN3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated to suchmarking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlinkcontrol-plane NAS (NI) signaling between the UE 502 and AMF 512, andrelay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE 502 and UPF504. The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishmentwith the UE 502.

The SMF 518 may be responsible for session management (e.g., sessionestablishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPFand AN node); UE IP address allocation & management (including optionalAuthorization); Selection and control of UP function; Configures trafficsteering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination ofinterfaces towards Policy control functions; control part of policyenforcement and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LISystem); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink DataNotification; initiator of AN specific SM information, sent via AMF overN2 to AN; determine SSC mode of a session. The SMF 518 may include thefollowing roaming functionality: handle local enforcement to apply QoSSLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN);lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI System);support for interaction with external DN for transport of signaling forPDU session authorization/authentication by external DN.

The NEF 516 may provide means for securely exposing the services andcapabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party,internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF 526),edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, theNEF 516 may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF 516may also translate information exchanged with the AF 526 and informationexchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 516 maytranslate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GCinformation. NEF 516 may also receive information from other networkfunctions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other networkfunctions. This information may be stored at the NEF 516 as structureddata, or at a data storage NF using a standardized interfaces. Thestored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 516 to other NFsand AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics.

The NRF 520 may support service discovery functions, receive NFDiscovery Requests from NF instances, and provide the information of thediscovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 520 also maintainsinformation of available NF instances and their supported services.

The PCF 522 may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) toenforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to governnetwork behavior. The PCF 522 may also implement a front end (FE) toaccess subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDRof UDM 524.

The UDM 524 may handle subscription-related information to support thenetwork entities' handling of communication sessions, and may storesubscription data of UE 502. The UDM 524 may include two parts, anapplication FE and a User Data Repository (UDR). The UDM may include aUDM FE, which is in charge of processing of credentials, locationmanagement, subscription management and so on. Several different frontends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FEaccesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performsauthentication credential processing; user identification handling;access authorization; registration/mobility management; and subscriptionmanagement. The UDR may interact with PCF 522. UDM 524 may also supportSMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar applicationlogic as discussed previously.

The AF 526 may provide application influence on traffic routing, accessto the Network Capability Exposure (NCE), and interact with the policyframework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the5GC and AF 526 to provide information to each other via NEF 516, whichmay be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations,the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to theUE 502 access point of attachment to achieve an efficient servicedelivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on thetransport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC mayselect a UPF 504 close to the UE 502 and execute traffic steering fromthe UPF 504 to DN 506 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UEsubscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 526.In this way, the AF 526 may influence UPF (re)selection and trafficrouting. Based on operator deployment, when AF 526 is considered to be atrusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 526 to interactdirectly with relevant NFs.

As discussed previously, the CN 510 may include an SMSF, which may beresponsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relayingSM messages to/from the UE 502 to/from other entities, such as anSMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF 512 andUDM 524 for notification procedure that the UE 502 is available for SMStransfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM 524 whenUE 502 is available for SMS).

The system 500 may include the following service-based interfaces: Namf:Service-based interface exhibited by AMF; Nsmf: Service-based interfaceexhibited by SMF; Nnef: Service-based interface exhibited by NEF; Npcf:Service-based interface exhibited by PCF; Nudm: Service-based interfaceexhibited by UDM; Naf: Service-based interface exhibited by AF; Nnrf:Service-based interface exhibited by NRF; and Nausf: Service-basedinterface exhibited by AUSF.

The system 500 may include the following reference points: N1: Referencepoint between the UE and the AMF; N2: Reference point between the (R)ANand the AMF; N3: Reference point between the (R)AN and the UPF; N4:Reference point between the SMF and the UPF; and N6: Reference pointbetween the UPF and a Data Network. There may be many more referencepoints and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in theNFs, however, these interfaces and reference points have been omittedfor clarity. For example, an NS reference point may be between the PCFand the AF; an N7 reference point may be between the PCF and the SMF; anN11 reference point between the AMF and SMF; etc. In some embodiments,the CN 510 may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interfacebetween the MME (e.g., MME(s) 430) and the AMF 512 in order to enableinterworking between CN 510 and CN 428.

Although not shown by FIG. 5 , the system 500 may include multiple RANnodes (such as (R)AN node 508) wherein an Xn interface is definedbetween two or more (R)AN node 508 (e.g., gNBs and the like) thatconnecting to 5GC 410, between a (R)AN node 508 (e.g., gNB) connectingto CN 510 and an eNB (e.g., a macro RAN node 418 of FIG. 4 ), and/orbetween two eNBs connecting to CN 510.

In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane(Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U mayprovide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/providedata forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may providemanagement and error handling functionality, functionality to manage theXn-C interface; mobility support for UE 502 in a connected mode (e.g.,CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility forconnected mode between one or more (R)AN node 508. The mobility supportmay include context transfer from an old (source) serving (R)AN node 508to new (target) serving (R)AN node 508; and control of user planetunnels between old (source) serving (R)AN node 508 to new (target)serving (R)AN node 508.

A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer builton Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of aUDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stackmay include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as XnApplication Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that isbuilt on an SCTP layer. The SCTP layer may be on top of an IP layer. TheSCTP layer provides the guaranteed delivery of application layermessages. In the transport IP layer point-to-point transmission is usedto deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-Uprotocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar tothe user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown anddescribed herein.

FIG. 6 illustrates example components of a device 600 in accordance withsome embodiments. In some embodiments, the device 600 may includeapplication circuitry 602, baseband circuitry 604, Radio Frequency (RF)circuitry (shown as RF circuitry 620), front-end module (FEM) circuitry(shown as FEM circuitry 630), one or more antennas 632, and powermanagement circuitry (PMC) (shown as PMC 634) coupled together at leastas shown. The components of the illustrated device 600 may be includedin a UE or a RAN node. In some embodiments, the device 600 may includefewer elements (e.g., a RAN node may not utilize application circuitry602, and instead include a processor/controller to process IP datareceived from an EPC). In some embodiments, the device 600 may includeadditional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display,camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments,the components described below may be included in more than one device(e.g., said circuitries may be separately included in more than onedevice for Cloud-RAN (C-RAN) implementations).

The application circuitry 602 may include one or more applicationprocessors. For example, the application circuitry 602 may includecircuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core ormulti-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination ofgeneral-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphicsprocessors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupledwith or may include memory/storage and may be configured to executeinstructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applicationsor operating systems to run on the device 600. In some embodiments,processors of application circuitry 602 may process IP data packetsreceived from an EPC.

The baseband circuitry 604 may include circuitry such as, but notlimited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. Thebaseband circuitry 604 may include one or more baseband processors orcontrol logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signalpath of the RF circuitry 620 and to generate baseband signals for atransmit signal path of the RF circuitry 620. The baseband circuitry 604may interface with the application circuitry 602 for generation andprocessing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of theRF circuitry 620. For example, in some embodiments, the basebandcircuitry 604 may include a third generation (3G) baseband processor (3Gbaseband processor 606), a fourth generation (4G) baseband processor (4Gbaseband processor 608), a fifth generation (5G) baseband processor (5Gbaseband processor 610), or other baseband processor(s) 612 for otherexisting generations, generations in development or to be developed inthe future (e.g., second generation (2G), sixth generation (6G), etc.).The baseband circuitry 604 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors)may handle various radio control functions that enable communicationwith one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 620. In otherembodiments, some or all of the functionality of the illustratedbaseband processors may be included in modules stored in the memory 618and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU 614). The radio controlfunctions may include, but are not limited to, signalmodulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting,etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of thebaseband circuitry 604 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT),preceding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In someembodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 604may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or LowDensity Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodimentsof modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are notlimited to these examples and may include other suitable functionalityin other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may include a digitalsignal processor (DSP), such as one or more audio DSP(s) 616. The one ormore audio DSP(s) 616 may be include elements forcompression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include othersuitable processing elements in other embodiments. Components of thebaseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a singlechipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. Insome embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of thebaseband circuitry 604 and the application circuitry 602 may beimplemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may provide forcommunication compatible with one or more radio technologies. Forexample, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 604 may supportcommunication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network(EUTRAN) or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN), a wirelesslocal area network (WLAN), or a wireless personal area network (WPAN).Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry 604 is configured to supportradio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referredto as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

The RF circuitry 620 may enable communication with wireless networksusing modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. Invarious embodiments, the RF circuitry 620 may include switches, filters,amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wirelessnetwork. The RF circuitry 620 may include a receive signal path whichmay include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEMcircuitry 630 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry604. The RF circuitry 620 may also include a transmit signal path whichmay include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by thebaseband circuitry 604 and provide RF output signals to the FEMcircuitry 630 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry 620 mayinclude mixer circuitry 622, amplifier circuitry 624 and filtercircuitry 626. In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RFcircuitry 620 may include filter circuitry 626 and mixer circuitry 622.The RF circuitry 620 may also include synthesizer circuitry 628 forsynthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 622 of thereceive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments,the mixer circuitry 622 of the receive signal path may be configured todown-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 630 based on thesynthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 628. Theamplifier circuitry 624 may be configured to amplify the down-convertedsignals and the filter circuitry 626 may be a low-pass filter (LPF) orband-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from thedown-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Outputbaseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 604 forfurther processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals maybe zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement.In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 622 of the receive signal pathmay comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments isnot limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 622 of the transmit signal pathmay be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on thesynthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 628 togenerate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 630. The basebandsignals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 604 and may befiltered by the filter circuitry 626.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 622 of the receive signal pathand the mixer circuitry 622 of the transmit signal path may include twoor more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion andupconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 622of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 622 of the transmitsignal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for imagerejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, themixer circuitry 622 of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry622 may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion,respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 622 of thereceive signal path and the mixer circuitry 622 of the transmit signalpath may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input basebandsignals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternateembodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signalsmay be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RFcircuitry 620 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) anddigital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry604 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RFcircuitry 620.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may beprovided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope ofthe embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 628 may be a fractional-Nsynthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of theembodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequencysynthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 628 maybe a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizercomprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 628 may be configured to synthesize an outputfrequency for use by the mixer circuitry 622 of the RF circuitry 620based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In someembodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 628 may be a fractional N/N+1synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltagecontrolled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Dividercontrol input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 604 orthe application circuitry 602 (such as an applications processor)depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, adivider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up tablebased on a channel indicated by the application circuitry 602.

Synthesizer circuitry 628 of the RF circuitry 620 may include a divider,a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. Insome embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) andthe phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In someembodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal byeither N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractionaldivision ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a setof cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pumpand a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may beconfigured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase,where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way,the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delaythrough the delay line is one VCO cycle.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 628 may be configured togenerate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in otherembodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrierfrequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrierfrequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and dividercircuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency withmultiple different phases with respect to each other. In someembodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In someembodiments, the RF circuitry 620 may include an IQ/polar converter.

The FEM circuitry 630 may include a receive signal path which mayinclude circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from oneor more antennas 632, amplify the received signals and provide theamplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 620 forfurther processing. The FEM circuitry 630 may also include a transmitsignal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signalsfor transmission provided by the RF circuitry 620 for transmission byone or more of the one or more antennas 632. In various embodiments, theamplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be donesolely in the RF circuitry 620, solely in the FEM circuitry 630, or inboth the RF circuitry 620 and the FEM circuitry 630.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 630 may include a TX/RX switch toswitch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEMcircuitry 630 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signalpath. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry 630 may include anLNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RFsignals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 620). The transmitsignal path of the FEM circuitry 630 may include a power amplifier (PA)to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by the RF circuitry 620),and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequenttransmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 632).

In some embodiments, the PMC 634 may manage power provided to thebaseband circuitry 604. In particular, the PMC 634 may controlpower-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DCconversion. The PMC 634 may often be included when the device 600 iscapable of being powered by a battery, for example, when the device 600is included in a UE. The PMC 634 may increase the power conversionefficiency while providing desirable implementation size and heatdissipation characteristics.

FIG. 6 shows the PMC 634 coupled only with the baseband circuitry 604.However, in other embodiments, the PMC 634 may be additionally oralternatively coupled with, and perform similar power managementoperations for, other components such as, but not limited to, theapplication circuitry 602, the RF circuitry 620, or the FEM circuitry630.

In some embodiments, the PMC 634 may control, or otherwise be part of,various power saving mechanisms of the device 600. For example, if thedevice 600 is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected tothe RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may entera state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period ofinactivity. During this state, the device 600 may power down for briefintervals of time and thus save power.

If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time,then the device 600 may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where itdisconnects from the network and does not perform operations such aschannel quality feedback, handover, etc. The device 600 goes into a verylow power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakesup to listen to the network and then powers down again. The device 600may not receive data in this state, and in order to receive data, ittransitions back to an RRC_Connected state.

An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable tothe network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging fromseconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totallyunreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sentduring this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay isacceptable.

Processors of the application circuitry 602 and processors of thebaseband circuitry 604 may be used to execute elements of one or moreinstances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the basebandcircuitry 604, alone or in combination, may be used to execute Layer 3,Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the applicationcircuitry 602 may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from theselayers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., transmissioncommunication protocol (TCP) and user datagram protocol (UDP) layers).As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a radio resource control(RRC) layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein,Layer 2 may comprise a medium access control (MAC) layer, a radio linkcontrol (RLC) layer, and a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP)layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1may comprise a physical (PHY) layer of a UE/RAN node, described infurther detail below.

FIG. 7 illustrates example interfaces 700 of baseband circuitry inaccordance with some embodiments. As discussed above, the basebandcircuitry 604 of FIG. 6 may comprise 3G baseband processor 606, 4Gbaseband processor 608, 5G baseband processor 610, other basebandprocessor(s) 612, CPU 614, and a memory 618 utilized by said processors.As illustrated, each of the processors may include a respective memoryinterface 702 to send/receive data to/from the memory 618.

The baseband circuitry 604 may further include one or more interfaces tocommunicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as a memoryinterface 704 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from memoryexternal to the baseband circuitry 604), an application circuitryinterface 706 (e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from theapplication circuitry 602 of FIG. 6 ), an RF circuitry interface 708(e.g., an interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry 620 ofFIG. 6 ), a wireless hardware connectivity interface 710 (e.g., aninterface to send/receive data to/from Near Field Communication (NFC)components, Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi®components, and other communication components), and a power managementinterface 712 (e.g., an interface to send/receive power or controlsignals to/from the PMC 634.

FIG. 8 is an illustration of a control plane protocol stack inaccordance with some embodiments. In this embodiment, a control plane800 is shown as a communications protocol stack between the UE 402 (oralternatively, the UE 404), the RAN 406 (e.g., the macro RAN node 418and/or the LP RAN node 420), and the MME(s) 430.

A PHY layer 802 may transmit or receive information used by the MAClayer 804 over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer 802 may furtherperform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), powercontrol, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handoverpurposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as an RRClayer 810. The PHY layer 802 may still further perform error detectionon the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC)coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation ofphysical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physicalchannels, and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna processing.

The MAC layer 804 may perform mapping between logical channels andtransport channels, multiplexing of MAC service data units (SDUs) fromone or more logical channels onto transport blocks (TB) to be deliveredto PHY via transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or morelogical channels from transport blocks (TB) delivered from the PHY viatransport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TB s, schedulinginformation reporting, error correction through hybrid automatic repeatrequest (HARM), and logical channel prioritization.

An RLC layer 806 may operate in a plurality of modes of operation,including: Transparent Mode (TM), Unacknowledged Mode (UM), andAcknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC layer 806 may execute transfer of upperlayer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automaticrepeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation,segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers.The RLC layer 806 may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs forAM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers,detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs forUM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers,and perform RLC re-establishment.

A PDCP layer 808 may execute header compression and decompression of IPdata, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence deliveryof upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminateduplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers forradio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data,perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control planedata, control timer-based discard of data, and perform securityoperations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection,integrity verification, etc.).

The main services and functions of the RRC layer 810 may includebroadcast of system information (e.g., included in Master InformationBlocks (MIBs) or System Information Blocks (SIBs) related to thenon-access stratum (NAS)), broadcast of system information related tothe access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and releaseof an RRC connection between the UE and E-UTRAN (e.g., RRC connectionpaging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, andRRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance andrelease of point-to-point radio bearers, security functions includingkey management, inter radio access technology (RAT) mobility, andmeasurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. Said MIBs andSIBs may comprise one or more information elements (IEs), which may eachcomprise individual data fields or data structures.

The UE 402 and the RAN 406 may utilize a Uu interface (e.g., an LTE-Uuinterface) to exchange control plane data via a protocol stackcomprising the PHY layer 802, the MAC layer 804, the RLC layer 806, thePDCP layer 808, and the RRC layer 810.

In the embodiment shown, the non-access stratum (NAS) protocols (NASprotocols 812) form the highest stratum of the control plane between theUE 402 and the MME(s) 430. The NAS protocols 812 support the mobility ofthe UE 402 and the session management procedures to establish andmaintain IP connectivity between the UE 402 and the P-GW 434.

The S1 Application Protocol (S1-AP) layer (S1-AP layer 822) may supportthe functions of the S1 interface and comprise Elementary Procedures(EPs). An EP is a unit of interaction between the RAN 406 and the CN428. The S1-AP layer services may comprise two groups: UE-associatedservices and non UE-associated services. These services performfunctions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer(E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signalingtransport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer.

The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) layer (alternativelyreferred to as the stream control transmission protocol/internetprotocol (SCTP/IP) layer) (SCTP layer 820) may ensure reliable deliveryof signaling messages between the RAN 406 and the MME(s) 430 based, inpart, on the IP protocol, supported by an IP layer 818. An L2 layer 816and an L1 layer 814 may refer to communication links (e.g., wired orwireless) used by the RAN node and the MME to exchange information.

The RAN 406 and the MME(s) 430 may utilize an S1-MME interface toexchange control plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer814, the L2 layer 816, the IP layer 818, the SCTP layer 820, and theS1-AP layer 822.

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a user plane protocol stack in accordancewith some embodiments. In this embodiment, a user plane 900 is shown asa communications protocol stack between the UE 402 (or alternatively,the UE 404), the RAN 406 (e.g., the macro RAN node 418 and/or the LP RANnode 420), the S-GW 432, and the P-GW 434. The user plane 900 mayutilize at least some of the same protocol layers as the control plane800. For example, the UE 402 and the RAN 406 may utilize a Uu interface(e.g., an LTE-Uu interface) to exchange user plane data via a protocolstack comprising the PHY layer 802, the MAC layer 804, the RLC layer806, the PDCP layer 808.

The General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the userplane (GTP-U) layer (GTP-U layer 904) may be used for carrying user datawithin the GPRS core network and between the radio access network andthe core network. The user data transported can be packets in any ofIPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP and IP security(UDP/IP) layer (UDP/IP layer 902) may provide checksums for dataintegrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the sourceand destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected dataflows. The RAN 406 and the S-GW 432 may utilize an S1-U interface toexchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer814, the L2 layer 816, the UDP/IP layer 902, and the GTP-U layer 904.The S-GW 432 and the P-GW 434 may utilize an S5/S8a interface toexchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising the L1 layer814, the L2 layer 816, the UDP/IP layer 902, and the GTP-U layer 904. Asdiscussed above with respect to FIG. 8 , NAS protocols support themobility of the UE 402 and the session management procedures toestablish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE 402 and the P-GW434.

FIG. 10 illustrates components 1000 of a core network in accordance withsome embodiments. The components of the CN 428 may be implemented in onephysical node or separate physical nodes including components to readand execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readablemedium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In someembodiments, Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) is utilized tovirtualize any or all of the above described network node functions viaexecutable instructions stored in one or more computer readable storagemediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation ofthe CN 428 may be referred to as a network slice 1002 (e.g., the networkslice 1002 is shown to include the HSS 436, the MME(s) 430, and the S-GW432). A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 428 may be referredto as a network sub-slice 1004 (e.g., the network sub-slice 1004 isshown to include the P-GW 434 and the PCRF 440).

NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one ormore network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware,onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standardserver hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFVsystems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementationsof one or more EPC components/functions.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to someexample embodiments, of a system 1100 to support NFV. The system 1100 isillustrated as including a virtualized infrastructure manager (shown asVIM 1102), a network function virtualization infrastructure (shown asNFVI 1104), a VNF manager (shown as VNFM 1106), virtualized networkfunctions (shown as VNF 1108), an element manager (shown as EM 1110), anNFV Orchestrator (shown as NFVO 1112), and a network manager (shown asNM 1114).

The VIM 1102 manages the resources of the NFVI 1104. The NFVI 1104 caninclude physical or virtual resources and applications (includinghypervisors) used to execute the system 1100. The VIM 1102 may managethe life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI 1104 (e.g., creation,maintenance, and tear down of virtual machines (VMs) associated with oneor more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance,fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources,and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to othermanagement systems.

The VNFM 1106 may manage the VNF 1108. The VNF 1108 may be used toexecute EPC components/functions. The VNFM 1106 may manage the lifecycle of the VNF 1108 and track performance, fault and security of thevirtual aspects of VNF 1108. The EM 1110 may track the performance,fault and security of the functional aspects of VNF 1108. The trackingdata from the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 may comprise, for example,performance measurement (PM) data used by the VIM 1102 or the NFVI 1104.Both the VNFM 1106 and the EM 1110 can scale up/down the quantity ofVNFs of the system 1100.

The NFVO 1112 may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources ofthe NFVI 1104 in order to provide the requested service (e.g., toexecute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM 1114 may provide apackage of end-user functions with the responsibility for the managementof a network, which may include network elements with VNFs,non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs mayoccur via the EM 1110).

FIG. 12 is a block diagram illustrating components 1200, according tosome example embodiments, able to read instructions from amachine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of themethodologies discussed herein. Specifically, FIG. 12 shows adiagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1202 including one ormore processors 1212 (or processor cores), one or more memory/storagedevices 1218, and one or more communication resources 1220, each ofwhich may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1222. For embodimentswhere node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1204 maybe executed to provide an execution environment for one or more networkslices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1202.

The processors 1212 (e.g., a central processing unit (CPU), a reducedinstruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction setcomputing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a digitalsignal processor (DSP) such as a baseband processor, an applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC), a radio-frequency integrated circuit(RFIC), another processor, or any suitable combination thereof) mayinclude, for example, a processor 1214 and a processor 1216.

The memory/storage devices 1218 may include main memory, disk storage,or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1218 mayinclude, but are not limited to any type of volatile or non-volatilememory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random-accessmemory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM),electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flashmemory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 1220 may include interconnection or networkinterface components or other suitable devices to communicate with oneor more peripheral devices 1206 or one or more databases 1208 via anetwork 1210. For example, the communication resources 1220 may includewired communication components (e.g., for coupling via a UniversalSerial Bus (USB)), cellular communication components, NFC components,Bluetooth® components (e.g., Bluetooth® Low Energy), Wi-Fi® components,and other communication components.

Instructions 1224 may comprise software, a program, an application, anapplet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of theprocessors 1212 to perform any one or more of the methodologiesdiscussed herein. The instructions 1224 may reside, completely orpartially, within at least one of the processors 1212 (e.g., within theprocessor's cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1218, or anysuitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of theinstructions 1224 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1202 fromany combination of the peripheral devices 1206 or the databases 1208.Accordingly, the memory of the processors 1212, the memory/storagedevices 1218, the peripheral devices 1206, and the databases 1208 areexamples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

The following examples pertain to further embodiments.

Example 1A may include a method, wherein, when a component carrier forV2X CA is added or released, an interruption to sidelink communicationsis up to 1 subframe (2 subframes if it is based on Uu timeline).

Example 2A may include the method of example 1A and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein, when a component carrier for V2X CA is addedor released, an interruption to cellular communications is up to 2subframes.

Example 3A may include the method of examples 1A-2A and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein the delay on component carrier addition/releasefor V2X sidelink CA in transmission mode 3 can be defined as the timeperiod from the end of DL subframe with RRC configuration message untilthe moment when UE is ready for to perform V2X RX or TX transmission.

Example 4A may include the method of example 3A and/or some otherexamples herein, wherein the delay requirements comprise: a delay timefor single component carrier addition/release is up to 21 ms; and adelay time for multiple component carrier addition/release is up to 20+Nms, wherein N is the number of component carrier added/released.

Example 5A may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one ormore elements of a method described in or related to any of examples1A-4A, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 6A may include one or more non-transitory computer-readablemedia comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, uponexecution of the instructions by one or more processors of theelectronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method describedin or related to any of examples 1A-4A, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 7A may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, orcircuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in orrelated to any of examples 1A-4A, or any other method or processdescribed herein.

Example 8A may include a method, technique, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1A-4A, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 9A may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processorsand one or more computer readable media comprising instructions that,when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described inor related to any of examples 1A-4A, or portions thereof.

Example 10A may include a signal as described in or related to any ofexamples 1A-4A, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 11A may include a signal in a wireless network as shown anddescribed herein.

Example 12A may include a method of communicating in a wireless networkas shown and described herein.

Example 13A may include a system for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 14A may include a device for providing wireless communication asshown and described herein.

Example 1B is a method for a user equipment (UE). The method includesdecoding a radio resource control (RRC) signal comprising a componentcarrier addition or release command for vehicle-to-everything (V2X)carrier aggregation (CA) in a wireless wide area network (WAN),determining that the UE is configured for V2X sidelink communication,and in response to the component carrier addition or release command andthe determination that the UE is configured for V2X sidelinkcommunication, interrupting communications with the WAN for up to twosubframes for radio frequency (RF) chain configuration.

Example 2B is the method of example 1B, wherein interruptingcommunications with the WAN comprises suspending data communication forboth uplink and downlink on a serving cell or primary cell (PCell) of acellular communications network.

Example 3B is the method of example 1B, wherein interruptingcommunications with the WAN for up to two subframes comprisesinterrupting communications with the WAN for up to 2 milliseconds.

Example 4B is the method of example 1B, wherein the RRC signal comprisesan RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Example 5B is the method of example 1B, wherein the UE is in a connectedmode, and wherein a delay time on component carrier addition or releasefor V2X sidelink transmission comprises a time period from an end of adownlink (DL) subframe including an RRC configuration message until theUE is ready to perform V2X reception or transmission.

Example 6B is the method of example 5B, wherein the delay time comprisesa first time for RRC processing and a second time for RF tuning orre-tuning.

Example 7B is the method of example 5B, wherein the delay for a singlecomponent carrier addition or release is up to 21 milliseconds.

Example 8B is the method of example 5B, wherein the delay for multiplecomponent carrier additions or releases is up to 20+N milliseconds,where N is a number of component carriers added or released.

Example 9B is the method of example 1B, further comprising: determiningthat the V2X CA follows PC5 interface subframe boundaries; and inresponse to determining that the V2X CA follows the PC5 subframeboundaries, interrupting the V2X sidelink communication for up to onesubframe.

Example 10B is the method of example 1B, further comprising: determiningthat the V2X follows Uu interface subframe boundaries; and in responseto determining that the V2X CA follows the Uu interface subframeboundaries, interrupting the V2X sidelink communication for up to twosubframes.

Example 11B is a method for a user equipment (UE), the methodcomprising: determining that the UE is configured in a connected modewherein a wireless wide area network (WAN) allocates time and frequencytransmission resources to the UE; processing a radio resource control(RRC) connection reconfiguration message corresponding to avehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier addition or release command, the RRCconnection reconfiguration message comprising dedicated configurationinformation for V2X sidelink communication in a subframe n from the WAN;and in response to the V2X carrier addition or release command, addingor releasing one or more V2X component carriers no later than an end ofWAN subframe n+21+N, where N is a number of the one or more V2Xcomponent carriers added or released.

Example 12B is the method of example 11B, wherein the connected modecomprises a sidelink transmission mode 3.

Example 13B is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatuscomprising: a memory interface to send or receive, to or from a memorydevice, a component carrier addition or release command; and a processorto: decode a radio resource control (RRC) signal comprising thecomponent carrier addition or release command for vehicle-to-everything(V2X) carrier aggregation (CA) in a wireless wide area network (WAN);determine that the UE is configured for V2X sidelink communication; andin response to the component carrier addition or release command and thedetermination that the UE is configured for V2X sidelink communication,interrupt communications with the WAN for up to two subframes for radiofrequency (RF) chain configuration.

Example 14B is the apparatus of example 13B, wherein interruptingcommunications with the WAN comprises suspend data communication forboth uplink and downlink on a serving cell or primary cell (PCell) of acellular communications network.

Example 15B is the apparatus of example 13B, wherein interruptingcommunications with the WAN for up to two subframes comprisesinterrupting communications with the WAN for up to 2 milliseconds.

Example 16B is the apparatus of example 13B, wherein the RRC signalcomprises an RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Example 17B is the apparatus of example 13B, wherein the UE is in aconnected mode, and wherein a delay time on component carrier additionor release for V2X sidelink transmission comprises a time period from anend of a downlink (DL) subframe include an RRC configuration messageuntil the UE is ready to perform V2X reception or transmission.

Example 18B is the apparatus of example 17B, wherein the delay timecomprises a first time for RRC process and a second time for RF tuningor re-tuning.

Example 19B is the apparatus of example 17B, wherein the delay for asingle component carrier addition or release is up to 21 milliseconds.

Example 20B is the apparatus of example 17B, wherein the delay formultiple component carrier additions or releases is up to 20+Nmilliseconds, where N is a number of component carriers added orreleased.

Example 21B is the apparatus of example 13B, wherein the instructionsfurther configure the apparatus to: determine that the V2X CA followsPC5 interface subframe boundaries; and in response to determining thatthe V2X CA follows the PC5 subframe boundaries, interrupt the V2Xsidelink communication for up to one subframe.

Example 22B is the apparatus of example 13B, wherein the instructionsfurther configure the apparatus to: determine that the V2X follows Uuinterface subframe boundaries; and in response to determining that theV2X CA follows the Uu interface subframe boundaries, interrupt the V2Xsidelink communication for up to two subframes.

Example 23B is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, thecomputer-readable storage medium including instructions that whenexecuted by a processor of a user equipment (UE), cause the processorto: decode a radio resource control (RRC) signal comprising a componentcarrier addition or release command for vehicle-to-everything (V2X)carrier aggregation (CA) in a wireless wide area network (WAN);determine that the UE is configured for V2X sidelink communication; andin response to the component carrier addition or release command and thedetermination that the UE is configured for V2X sidelink communication,interrupt communications with the WAN for up to two subframes for radiofrequency (RF) chain configuration.

Example 24B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 23B,wherein interrupting communications with the WAN comprises suspend datacommunication for both uplink and downlink on a serving cell or primarycell (PCell) of a cellular communications network.

Example 25B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 23B,wherein interrupting communications with the WAN for up to two subframescomprises interrupting communications with the WAN for up to 2milliseconds.

Example 26B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 23B,wherein the RRC signal comprises an RRC connection reconfigurationmessage.

Example 27B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 23B,wherein the UE is in a connected mode, and wherein a delay time oncomponent carrier addition or release for V2X sidelink transmissioncomprises a time period from an end of a downlink (DL) subframe includean RRC configuration message until the UE is ready to perform V2Xreception or transmission.

Example 28B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 27B,wherein the delay time comprises a first time for RRC process and asecond time for RF tuning or re-tuning.

Example 29B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 27B,wherein the delay for a single component carrier addition or release isup to 21 milliseconds.

Example 30B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 27B,wherein the delay for multiple component carrier additions or releasesis up to 20+N milliseconds, where N is a number of component carriersadded or released.

Example 31B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 23B,wherein the instructions further configure the computer to: determinethat the V2X CA follows PC5 interface subframe boundaries; and inresponse to determining that the V2X CA follows the PC5 subframeboundaries, interrupt the V2X sidelink communication for up to onesubframe.

Example 32B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 23B,wherein the instructions further configure the computer to: determinethat the V2X follows Uu interface subframe boundaries; and in responseto determining that the V2X CA follows the Uu interface subframeboundaries, interrupt the V2X sidelink communication for up to twosubframes.

Example 33B is an apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatuscomprising: a processor; and a memory storing instructions that, whenexecuted by the processor, configure the apparatus to: determine thatthe UE is configured in a connected mode wherein a wireless wide areanetwork (WAN) allocates time and frequency transmission resources to theUE; process a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfigurationmessage corresponding to a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier additionor release command, the RRC connection reconfiguration messagecomprising dedicated configuration information for V2X sidelinkcommunication in a subframe n from the WAN; and in response to the V2Xcarrier addition or release command, add or release one or more V2Xcomponent carriers no later than an end of WAN subframe n+21+N, where Nis a number of the one or more V2X component carriers added or released.

Example 34B is the apparatus of example 33B, wherein the connected modecomprises a sidelink transmission mode 3.

Example 35B is a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, thecomputer-readable storage medium including instructions that whenexecuted by a processor, cause the processor to: determine that a userequipment (UE) is configured in a connected mode wherein a wireless widearea network (WAN) allocates time and frequency transmission resourcesto the UE; process a radio resource control (RRC) connectionreconfiguration message corresponding to a vehicle-to-everything (V2X)carrier addition or release command, the RRC connection reconfigurationmessage comprising dedicated configuration information for V2X sidelinkcommunication in a subframe n from the WAN; and in response to the V2Xcarrier addition or release command, add or release one or more V2Xcomponent carriers no later than an end of WAN subframe n+21+N, where Nis a number of the one or more V2X component carriers added or released.

Example 36B is the computer-readable storage medium of example 35B,wherein the connected mode comprises a sidelink transmission mode 3.

Example 37B is a computing apparatus including a processor and a memorystoring instructions that, when executed by the processor, configure theapparatus to perform the method of any of example 1B to example 12B.

Example 38B is a non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumincluding instructions that, when processed by a computer, configure thecomputer to perform the method of any of example 1B to example 12B.

Any of the above described examples may be combined with any otherexample (or combination of examples), unless explicitly statedotherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementationsprovides illustration and description, but is not intended to beexhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise formdisclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of theabove teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments.

Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods describedherein may include various operations, which may be embodied inmachine-executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. Acomputer system may include one or more general-purpose orspecial-purpose computers (or other electronic devices). The computersystem may include hardware components that include specific logic forperforming the operations or may include a combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware.

Computer systems and the computers in a computer system may be connectedvia a network. Suitable networks for configuration and/or use asdescribed herein include one or more local area networks, wide areanetworks, metropolitan area networks, and/or Internet or IP networks,such as the World Wide Web, a private Internet, a secure Internet, avalue-added network, a virtual private network, an extranet, anintranet, or even stand-alone machines which communicate with othermachines by physical transport of media. In particular, a suitablenetwork may be formed from parts or entireties of two or more othernetworks, including networks using disparate hardware and networkcommunication technologies.

One suitable network includes a server and one or more clients; othersuitable networks may include other combinations of servers, clients,and/or peer-to-peer nodes, and a given computer system may function bothas a client and as a server. Each network includes at least twocomputers or computer systems, such as the server and/or clients. Acomputer system may include a workstation, laptop computer,disconnectable mobile computer, server, mainframe, cluster, so-called“network computer” or “thin client,” tablet, smart phone, personaldigital assistant or other hand-held computing device, “smart” consumerelectronics device or appliance, medical device, or a combinationthereof.

Suitable networks may include communications or networking software,such as the software available from Novell®, Microsoft®, and othervendors, and may operate using TCP/IP, SPX, IPX, and other protocolsover twisted pair, coaxial, or optical fiber cables, telephone lines,radio waves, satellites, microwave relays, modulated AC power lines,physical media transfer, and/or other data transmission “wires” known tothose of skill in the art. The network may encompass smaller networksand/or be connectable to other networks through a gateway or similarmechanism.

Various techniques, or certain aspects or portions thereof, may take theform of program code (i.e., instructions) embodied in tangible media,such as floppy diskettes, CD-ROMs, hard drives, magnetic or opticalcards, solid-state memory devices, a nontransitory computer-readablestorage medium, or any other machine-readable storage medium wherein,when the program code is loaded into and executed by a machine, such asa computer, the machine becomes an apparatus for practicing the varioustechniques. In the case of program code execution on programmablecomputers, the computing device may include a processor, a storagemedium readable by the processor (including volatile and nonvolatilememory and/or storage elements), at least one input device, and at leastone output device. The volatile and nonvolatile memory and/or storageelements may be a RAM, an EPROM, a flash drive, an optical drive, amagnetic hard drive, or other medium for storing electronic data. TheeNB (or other base station) and UE (or other mobile station) may alsoinclude a transceiver component, a counter component, a processingcomponent, and/or a clock component or timer component. One or moreprograms that may implement or utilize the various techniques describedherein may use an application programming interface (API), reusablecontrols, and the like. Such programs may be implemented in a high-levelprocedural or an object-oriented programming language to communicatewith a computer system. However, the program(s) may be implemented inassembly or machine language, if desired. In any case, the language maybe a compiled or interpreted language, and combined with hardwareimplementations.

Each computer system includes one or more processors and/or memory;computer systems may also include various input devices and/or outputdevices. The processor may include a general purpose device, such as anIntel®, AMD®, or other “off-the-shelf” microprocessor. The processor mayinclude a special purpose processing device, such as ASIC, SoC, SiP,FPGA, PAL, PLA, FPLA, PLD, or other customized or programmable device.The memory may include static RAM, dynamic RAM, flash memory, one ormore flip-flops, ROM, CD-ROM, DVD, disk, tape, or magnetic, optical, orother computer storage medium. The input device(s) may include akeyboard, mouse, touch screen, light pen, tablet, microphone, sensor, orother hardware with accompanying firmware and/or software. The outputdevice(s) may include a monitor or other display, printer, speech ortext synthesizer, switch, signal line, or other hardware withaccompanying firmware and/or software.

It should be understood that many of the functional units described inthis specification may be implemented as one or more components, whichis a term used to more particularly emphasize their implementationindependence. For example, a component may be implemented as a hardwarecircuit comprising custom very large scale integration (VLSI) circuitsor gate arrays, or off-the-shelf semiconductors such as logic chips,transistors, or other discrete components. A component may also beimplemented in programmable hardware devices such as field programmablegate arrays, programmable array logic, programmable logic devices, orthe like.

Components may also be implemented in software for execution by varioustypes of processors. An identified component of executable code may, forinstance, comprise one or more physical or logical blocks of computerinstructions, which may, for instance, be organized as an object, aprocedure, or a function. Nevertheless, the executables of an identifiedcomponent need not be physically located together, but may comprisedisparate instructions stored in different locations that, when joinedlogically together, comprise the component and achieve the statedpurpose for the component.

Indeed, a component of executable code may be a single instruction, ormany instructions, and may even be distributed over several differentcode segments, among different programs, and across several memorydevices. Similarly, operational data may be identified and illustratedherein within components, and may be embodied in any suitable form andorganized within any suitable type of data structure. The operationaldata may be collected as a single data set, or may be distributed overdifferent locations including over different storage devices, and mayexist, at least partially, merely as electronic signals on a system ornetwork. The components may be passive or active, including agentsoperable to perform desired functions.

Several aspects of the embodiments described will be illustrated assoftware modules or components. As used herein, a software module orcomponent may include any type of computer instruction orcomputer-executable code located within a memory device. A softwaremodule may, for instance, include one or more physical or logical blocksof computer instructions, which may be organized as a routine, program,object, component, data structure, etc., that perform one or more tasksor implement particular data types. It is appreciated that a softwaremodule may be implemented in hardware and/or firmware instead of or inaddition to software. One or more of the functional modules describedherein may be separated into sub-modules and/or combined into a singleor smaller number of modules.

In certain embodiments, a particular software module may includedisparate instructions stored in different locations of a memory device,different memory devices, or different computers, which togetherimplement the described functionality of the module. Indeed, a modulemay include a single instruction or many instructions, and may bedistributed over several different code segments, among differentprograms, and across several memory devices. Some embodiments may bepracticed in a distributed computing environment where tasks areperformed by a remote processing device linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, software modules may belocated in local and/or remote memory storage devices. In addition, databeing tied or rendered together in a database record may be resident inthe same memory device, or across several memory devices, and may belinked together in fields of a record in a database across a network.

Reference throughout this specification to “an example” means that aparticular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connectionwith the example is included in at least one embodiment. Thus,appearances of the phrase “in an example” in various places throughoutthis specification are not necessarily all referring to the sameembodiment.

As used herein, a plurality of items, structural elements, compositionalelements, and/or materials may be presented in a common list forconvenience. However, these lists should be construed as though eachmember of the list is individually identified as a separate and uniquemember. Thus, no individual member of such list should be construed as ade facto equivalent of any other member of the same list solely based onits presentation in a common group without indications to the contrary.In addition, various embodiments and examples may be referred to hereinalong with alternatives for the various components thereof. It isunderstood that such embodiments, examples, and alternatives are not tobe construed as de facto equivalents of one another, but are to beconsidered as separate and autonomous representations.

Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics maybe combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In thefollowing description, numerous specific details are provided, such asexamples of materials, frequencies, sizes, lengths, widths, shapes,etc., to provide a thorough understanding of the embodiments. Oneskilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that theembodiments may be practiced without one or more of the specificdetails, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In otherinstances, well-known structures, materials, or operations are not shownor described in detail to avoid obscuring aspects of embodiments.

It should be recognized that the systems described herein includedescriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments can be combinedinto single systems, partially combined into other systems, split intomultiple systems or divided or combined in other ways. In addition, itis contemplated that parameters/attributes/aspects/etc. of oneembodiment can be used in another embodiment. Theparameters/attributes/aspects/etc. are merely described in one or moreembodiments for clarity, and it is recognized that theparameters/attributes/aspects/etc. can be combined with or substitutedfor parameters/attributes/etc. of another embodiment unless specificallydisclaimed herein.

Although the foregoing has been described in some detail for purposes ofclarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the principles thereof. It should benoted that there are many alternative ways of implementing both theprocesses and apparatuses described herein. Accordingly, the presentembodiments are to be considered illustrative and not restrictive, andthe description is not to be limited to the details given herein, butmay be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus of a mobile communication system,the apparatus comprising: a memory interface to send or receive, to orfrom a memory device storing instructions, data regarding theinstructions; a processor coupled to the memory interface to receive thedata therefrom, the processor to perform the instructions to: determinethat a user equipment (UE) is configured in a connected mode wherein awireless wide area network (WAN) allocates time and frequencytransmission resources to the UE; process a radio resource control (RRC)connection reconfiguration message corresponding to avehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier addition or release command, the RRCconnection reconfiguration message comprising dedicated configurationinformation for V2X sidelink communication in a subframe n from the WAN;and in response to the V2X carrier addition or release command, add orrelease one or more V2X component carriers no later than an end of WANsubframe n+21+N, where N is a number of the one or more V2X componentcarriers added or released.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theconnected mode comprises a sidelink transmission mode
 3. 3. Anon-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructionsstored thereon, the instructions when executed by a processor of amobile communication system, to cause the processor to performoperations including: determining that a user equipment (UE) isconfigured in a connected mode wherein a wireless wide area network(WAN) allocates time and frequency transmission resources to the UE;process a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfigurationmessage corresponding to a vehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier additionor release command, the RRC connection reconfiguration messagecomprising dedicated configuration information for V2X sidelinkcommunication in a subframe n from the WAN; and in response to the V2Xcarrier addition or release command, adding or releasing one or more V2Xcomponent carriers no later than an end of WAN subframe n+21+N, where Nis a number of the one or more V2X component carriers added or released.4. The storage medium of claim 3, wherein the connected mode comprises asidelink transmission mode
 3. 5. A method to be performed at a processorof a mobile communication system, the method including: determining thata user equipment (UE) is configured in a connected mode wherein awireless wide area network (WAN) allocates time and frequencytransmission resources to the UE; process a radio resource control (RRC)connection reconfiguration message corresponding to avehicle-to-everything (V2X) carrier addition or release command, the RRCconnection reconfiguration message comprising dedicated configurationinformation for V2X sidelink communication in a subframe n from the WAN;and in response to the V2X carrier addition or release command, addingor releasing one or more V2X component carriers no later than an end ofWAN subframe n+21+N, where N is a number of the one or more V2Xcomponent carriers added or released.
 6. The method of claim 5, whereinthe connected mode comprises a sidelink transmission mode 3.